Waldon Adelman Castilla McNamara & Prout is pleased to announce that the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed that a trial court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s third lawsuit against our client was proper. The case involved a plaintiff attempting to procure a default judgment against our client after her first two lawsuits had failed.

After the trial court dismissed plaintiff’s second suit, our client moved on with her life, only to be hit with another lawsuit some seven (7) years after the motor vehicle accident for which plaintiff had sought damages. Correctly believing plaintiff could not sue her yet again, the client did not respond to the third lawsuit. Plaintiff was then able to obtain an order of default and geared up for a hearing to ask for damages.

Thankfully, before the hearing, we became aware of the third lawsuit and promptly filed a Motion to Set Aside Judgment and Open Default, followed by a Motion to Dismiss the third lawsuit. The trial court adopted all of our arguments, finding ours was a proper case to open default and that dismissal – for the third time – was warranted. The Court of Appeals also resoundingly agreed,  giving our client yet another victory and finally, hopefully, an end to her legal saga.

“Multiple Waldon Adelman attorneys contributed to years of hard-fought litigation in this case, so we are probably celebrating this win just as much as our client is. We are grateful that she can finally put this incident behind her – with a record of 3-0, no less,” said Senior Counsel Kayla Bell.  

At Waldon Adelman, we understand that the litigation process often doesn’t end with a jury verdict or a judge’s decision; the appellate stage is a critical opportunity to ensure that legal principles are correctly applied and that our clients’ interests are fully protected.